Television Shows

You know, I miss family TV shows. You know, the kind they quit making in the 90's, the ones that didn't involve viewer discretion warnings before each episode. At 8 pm every night, and up to 10 pm on Friday nights, there were programs on television that the whole family could watch, from kids on up. Now, you have to order cable to get "family programming," but I have to say, I don't consider junk like "Spongebob Squarepants" decent programming, let alone family programming.

I miss stuff like "Full House," "Home Improvement," "Dinosaurs," and lots of those shows of that ilk. I remember watching them with my younger sister and mother, and all of us enjoyed them. Now, the 8 pm fare consists of crime, blood, guts, murder, and mayhem, which used to be reserved for the 10 pm slots.

Saturday morning cartoons don't even really exist anymore. If it's an actual cartoon, it seems to be meant for the under-7 set. Anything for anyone older consists of insipid shows that are more cringe-worthy than some of the ones that were considered horrible in the 80s and 90s.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, despite the fact that I'm only in my 30s, but I don't think it's only that. We have a television network in my area that shows RTN (Retro Television Network). My daughter, 10, and my nephew, 5, love it. They like watching shows like "Leave It To Beaver," "The Incredible Hulk," "Buck Rogers," "Happy Days," "Greatest American Hero," "Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys," and "Knight Rider." In fact, when I give them a choice of shows to watch, they will pick the retro shows over the new ones about 80% of the time. So, I don't think it's only me that doesn't like the non-family fare offered now on regular broadcast television.

So, I wonder if we will ever see true family programming again. More than likely, we will just keep enjoying our RTN, and just hope for the best, but know we aren't likely to get it.